I have a bit of question here. Does this obsession lead us to discriminate to the extent we are called racists?
There is a bit of labeling of Indians going on here as "racists", "casteists" "rapists" etc etc
Racism | Define Racism at Dictionary.com
racism
[rey-siz-uh m]
noun
1.a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.
2.a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
I have seen, among most TBs and most NBs as well, that fair skin is preferred, esp for girls. There is a "syndrome" due to which fairness of the skin is associated to fairness of the mind. And cleanliness as well. Light force vs dark force. "Gnyana oli" & not "Gnyana irul". The fair Devas vs the dark Asuras (even in comics). To that extent that a dark Rama or a dark Krishna is coloured blue in pictures whereas dark asuras are just dark. Black, rather.
So, I tend to think that there is a sub-conscious hammering, into the psyche, of the significance of the colour through variables around us. This is one aspect.
The varna & jati, combined together, has, through the crop of religion, fed us with a belief that there are some inherent characteristics that are specific to either a varna or a jati. Regarding the belief of gene conditioning and inheritence of such character, we can infer, with the knowledge available now, that such a speculation has no proof. However, the masses do not understand this. For the majority of the North Indians, it might be, even now, a surprise to note that there are dark skinned brahmins down south. Exceptions due to pratiloma and anuloma are very rare. Even if it were to happen in the days of yore, that used to be mainly between the 3 castes and not the 4th. Hence the dark skin tag tends also to be associated with a inferior caste factor. For example, a dark skinned brahmin is a brahmin but not "THE BRAHMIN". Just like some consider vadama to be superior to brahacharnam. This is another aspect.
When the "really white" skinned conquerors forced the varna adherents to their knees, a new thought permeated - the white man (TWM) superiority. TWM was seen as an unshakeable master that he could not be taken by force and freedom was obtained through begging. While many of us may ignore or even resent it, there is a feeling of lord-servant relationship among many Indians even now. Here again, I am using the colour (TWM) consciously to indicate that the colour was a main factor that indicated superiority (by the british). Fair skin meant equal status with TWM,albeit with some tremor on the part of the Indian. This is the last aspect.
The Indian, through religion, caste and conquest, has inevitably linked the fairness of the skin to social status, character, and a perceived superiority. Hence it would not be wrong to conclude that the obsession, of Indians, with fair skin, actually
does lead us to discriminate to an extent that be would covered under the ambit of racism.
Not much can be said about the speculation in the OP though...
